The session will discuss various aspects of chemosynthetic ecosystems. Exploration and investigation efforts of the past decade have significantly improved our understanding of the biodiversity and distribution of deep-sea chemosynthetic ecosystems. These ecosystems are now known from a variety of environments on the seafloor (e.g.: hydrothermal vents, cold seeps, deep anoxic hypersaline basins, massive organic falls like whales skeletons, sunken woods,.etc). Also the knowledge of biogeochemical processes and biological interaction sustaining chemosynthetic ecosystems, and their role in the evolution of marine biodiversity is increasing. However, challenging issues remain the discovery of chemosynthetic ecosystems in remote ocean systems, the temporal dynamics of these ecosystems, their influence on ocean biogeochemical cycles, and their sensitivity to anthropogenic impact. In particular, the mechanisms governing the interactions between chemosynthetic communities and the abiotic environment, and the multitude of microbial metabolisms in sustaining these ecosystems need further investigation, especially with regard to quantification. This session will welcome advanced multidisciplinary studies on these unique ecological and biogeochemical ecosystems, as well as technological developments for the exploration, observation, experimentation, and monitoring at various scales on the seafloor.

This session is contributes to the research projects: FP7-HERMIONE (WP7 deliverable), FP7-ESONET, FP7-CAREX, FP7-SENSENET, InterRidge

Another important deadline:

- 28 February 2011 - Deadline for Pre-Registration/ Deadline for Exhibition/ Deadline for Letters of Invitation/ Deadline for Letters of Invitation for

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2. Jobs and Fellowships

2.1 Researcher in Applied Geophysics, CICESE, Mexico

CICESE invites applications from young and experienced researchers for a full time tenure-track vacancy for the Applied Geophysics Department, Earth Science Division, CICESE.

2.2 Research Scientist in Seismology and Geodynamics, Observatorio Nacional-MCT, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

An experienced and dynamic seismologist wanted at the Observatorio Nacional-MCT, on a 5-year contract basis, to develop and conduct high-quality research in seismology of relevance to understanding crustal and upper mantle dynamics and geohazards in Brazil.

If you would like to receive this year's issue of InterRidge News as a hard copy in the mail, please be sure that you have checked this option in your User Profile in the Member Database. Log on to the InterRidge website (http://www.interridge.org) with your Username and Password and update your User Profile (after you log on in the left panel, click on your Username under "Who's online" in the right panel > click on the "Edit" tab > click on the "Other Info" tab > check the box for "Receive IR Newsletter as Hardcopy"). Forgot your password? Click on "Request new password" in the left panel. If you are not an InterRidge Member, please join by creating a new user account. Questions? Contact: coordinator@interridge.org.

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1.2 Visit InterRidge at AGU

InterRidge will be at Booth #249 on "NSF Street" at the Moscone Centre, along with Ridge 2000, Marine Geoscience Data System and Geoinformatics for Geochemistry. Copies of the 2010 newsletter will be available, and publicity for the IR Student Fellowships and Cruise Travel bursaries.

The next issue of Scientific Drilling is March 2011. Contact Miko Saido (msaido@iodp.org) by 27 Dec 2010 if you plan to submit items for this issue.

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InterRidge Email #23/2010 (Nov 18th, 2010)

1. InterRidge Info

1.1 Survey on hydrothermal vents of special value - reminder to participate

1.2 Cruise travel bursaries

1.3 Sign up for hard copy of InterRidge News 2010

2. Jobs and Fellowships

2.1 Postdoctoral position in Seismology, Univ. of Wyoming, USA

2.2 PhD position in Physical Oceanography, IFM-GEOMAR, Germany

2.3 Assistant researcher, Univ. of Hawaii, USA

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1. InterRidge Info

1.1 Reminder to participate in the InterRidge survey to nominate hydrothermal vent sites of special value

In response to the ISA's request for information on hydrothermal sites of exceptional scientific value, InterRidge is seeking nominations from the scientific community for sites considered vulnerable to exploitation.

In May 2010, the ISA (http://www.isa.org.jm/) put in place its "Regulations for Prospecting and Exploration for Polymetallic Sulphides", allowing member states to submit applications for licences to prospect the mineral deposits at hydrothermal vent fields in High Seas areas. The ISA has already received one licence application, for polymetalic sulphide exploration on the South West Indian Ocean. Early next year the Legal and Technical Committee (LTC) of the ISA will meet to advise on this first application.

In response to the ISA's request, the InterRidge office is preparing a report for the ISA's LTC regarding vent sites that are identified as being of exceptional scientific or cultural importance and hence require special consideration before mineral prospecting licenses are issued.

If you are working, or have worked, at vent sites that you consider especially important and require special consideration, please complete the InterRidge survey form and return it to the IR office as soon as possible. The IR office will then collate the responses by the end of January 2011, post them on the InterRidge web site and pass them to the ISA's LTC.

For more information, and to download the survey form, please visit:

http://www.interridge.org/ventsurvey

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1.2 Cruise travel bursaries

InterRidge has introduced a cruise travel bursary scheme to enable early career ridge-crest scientists to participate in mid-ocean ridge research cruises. This initiative is designed to initiate new collaborations and new research directions across the InterRidge member nations. Up to $2000 USD will be awarded for travel and subsistence costs to facilitate cruise participation.

InterRidge will facilitate contact between host scientists with planned cruises and early career scientists from outside the host nation. There are two routes to obtain a cruise travel bursary. A student can identify a collaborator on a particular cruise and negotiate a place, depending on berth availability. Alternatively, a potential host scientist, with the consent of their cruise Chief Scientist, can post details of the opportunity to participate on their cruise on the InterRidge website. Interested applicants will be invited to contact the host partner. Only with full agreement of all three parties - student, host scientist and cruise Chief Scientist - will a cruise place be offered. An application form is available from the InterRidge Office.

Preference will be given to applicants from InterRidge member countries who are at an early stage in their career, who have a clear role on the research cruise and who are not part of the original research team. We especially favour applicants from countries other than those of the host scientist. Full details and application form are available at: http://www.interridge.org/cruisebursary.

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1.3 Sign up for hard copy of InterRidge News 2010

If you would like to receive this year's issue of InterRidge News as a hard copy in the mail, please be sure that you have checked this option in your User Profile in the Member Database. Log on to the InterRidge website (http://www.interridge.org) with your Username and Password and update your User Profile (after you log on in the left panel, click on your Username under "Who's online" in the right panel > click on the "Edit" tab > click on the "Other Info" tab > check the box for "Receive IR Newsletter as Hardcopy"). Forgot your password? Click on "Request new password" in the left panel. If you are not an InterRidge Member, please join by creating a new user account. Questions? Contact: coordinator@interridge.org.

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2. Jobs and Fellowships

2.1 Postdoctoral position in Seismology, Univ. of Wyoming, USA

Applications invited for a postdoctoral position in reflection/refraction seismology, to begin in March 2011. The successful candidate will participate in analysis of marine seismic reflection data, principally in the rapidly developing field of seismic oceanography.

SOEST is seeking junior scientists and engineers with outstanding abilities in any of the following disciplines: ocean, earth, atmospheric, planetary and materials science; marine biology; marine biotechnology; renewable energy; or ocean and resources engineering. The number of positions is subject to availability of funds.

InterRidge is pleased to announce that supporting funds are now available for mid-ocean ridge-themed meetings. Convenors are invited to submit a proposal of up to two pages to InterRIdge describing the aims of their meeting and how it fits to InterRidge objectives. Where InterRIdge support is approved, it will be aimed at facilitating the attendance of early career scientists to the meeting.

1.2 Cruise bursaries - host scientists required

InterRidge aims to promote new scientific collaborations and help develop the careers of young ridge-crest scientists by allowing them to use spare berths aboard cruises, by funding their travel and subsistence to and from the point of sail. To do this, InterRidge wishes to facilitate contact between established (host) scientists on planned cruises and early career scientists from outside the host nation. This is an ideal opportunity for any established researcher on a cruise in 2011 to open up opportunities to young career scientists and build collaborations with other groups. The procedure is either:

A) Initiated by early career scientist

Identify a cruise on which you wish to participate, and a scientist onboard (host) with whom you would like to collaborate.

Joint scientific conference and workshop dedicated to exploring the cultivation dependent and independent means by which we study the microbes of the subsurface. Due to space limitations, participation will be limited. Travel funding is available for students and postdoctoral participants on a limited basis.

Scientists from the MARUM Center for Marine Environmental Sciences and the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen on board the German research vessel RV Meteor have discovered a new hydrothermal vent 500 km SW of the Azores. The discovery is remarkable because the area in which it was found has been extensively studied during previous research cruises.

Canada has just made scientific and technological history, completing the installation of NEPTUNE Canada—the world’s largest and most advanced cabled ocean observatory. Most of the 4-week voyage aboard RV T.G.Thompson was spent at volcanically active Endeavour Ridge, where the team installed two six-kilometre cables and 29 instruments on the seafloor and connected them to the main NEPTUNE Canada network. Every year for the next 25 years, NEPTUNE Canada will amass more than 60 terabytes of scientific data—equivalent to the text in about 60 million books—on biological, physical, chemical and geological processes in the Pacific Ocean.

To see live data streaming from NEPTUNE Canada instruments or for more information on the observatory, visit www.neptunecanada.ca

3 year post doctoral research position based at Keyworth, Nottingham, is offered by the British Geological Survey, the UK’s premier geoscience strategic mapping and research organisation. The Research Geophysicist position will be associated with the Geophysical Tomography Team.

The Department of Earth Sciences, Cambridge University seeks an experienced researcher to participate in research into the interplay of tectonics and magmatism in the active northern volcanic zone of Iceland.

Applications are now being accepted for the 2011-2012 NF-POGO Center of Excellence in Observational Oceanography training programme at Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences (BIOS) in Bermuda. This 10 month program is offered in Bermuda starting in August 2011.

Cornel de Ronde (GNS), Dave Butterfield (NOAA/PMEL) and Matt Leybourne (GNS) are guest editing a special issue of the journal Ecomic Geology. The special issue will concentrate on the metallogeny/ore deposits of intraoceanic arcs. Deadline for manuscript submission is the end of December 2010, with publication anticipated for later in 2011. To date, expected papers will include studies from the Kermadec arc, the IBM and the Aeolian arc, among others.

InterRidge has a rolling programme of Working Groups that develop new opportunities and advances in ridge crest science. As some working groups draw to a conclusion, we invite the InterRidge community to propose new working groups. These should be substantially different in objective to the exisiting ones (see http://www.interridge.org/ for current listing). Proposals should be no more than 2 pages long, and describe objectives of the working group, its importance to ridge crest science, what it hopes to achieve and how. Each proposal should have at least four proponents from across at least three InterRidge member countries and two disciplines. Successful Working Group proposals will have ten of more active members, a chair and co-chair, and will receive funding for two workshops.

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1.2 IR News 2010 - register for hard copy

The InterRidge News 2010 will be published next month. It will be available as hard copy and in electronic form. If you would like to be sent a copy, please go to your account via http://www.interridge.org and under edit/other info, check the box "Receive IR Newsletter as Hardcopy".

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1.3 Call for PIs to offer berths for new IR cruise bursaries

This call was announced in the previous newsletter and on the website (http://www.interridge.org/en/bursaries). The bursaries are to enable new collaborations between established PIs and early career, ridge-crest scientists to participate in mid-ocean ridge research cruises. Up to $2000 USD will be awarded for travel and subsistence costs to facilitate embarkation and disembarkation.

If you are a PI of a scheduled research cruise in 2011 and wish to offer a berth to initiate a new collaboration, please contact the InterRidge Office (coordinator@interridge.org) for further information.

This workshop aims to raise the profile of research on geological carbon capture and storage, with particular focus on the potential for storage in ultramafic and mafic rocks. Optional fieldtrips 11-12 Jan 2010

The Geomagnetism Group at the University of Liverpool, UK has funding for a 3 year post-doc position working on the project “Very long timescale variations in the palaeomagnetic record and the evolution of the Earth's deep interior”.

InterRidge announces the first phase of cruise travel bursaries. These are to enable early career, ridge-crest scientists to participate in mid-ocean ridge research cruises. Up to $2000 USD will be awarded for travel and subsistence costs to facilitate embarkation and disembarkation.

To kick-start the process, InterRidge is now inviting leaders of scheduled research cruises, with spare berths, to contact the InterRidge Office (coordinator@interridge.org), notifying us of availability, the nature of the research cruise and contact details. We will then compile these and advertise them on the IR website. Interested applicants will then be invited to contact the cruise leaders. If there is mutual agreement, there will then follow a one-page, joint application to InterRidge.

Preference will be given to applicants from InterRidge member countries, who have a clear role on the research cruise and who are not part of the original research team. We especially favour applicants from countries other than those of the cruise leader.

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2. News from the Ridge Crest

2.1 R/V T.G.Thompson at Endeavour Ridge

On Sunday, Sept. 12, a team of scientists and engineers embarked from Esquimalt, BC aboard the research vessel T.G. Thompson to complete installation of NEPTUNE Canada, the world’s first regional cabled ocean observatory.

GRID-Arendal is seeking a Marine Expert to participate in the planning, developing and implementing of various Marine Ecosystem Management activities of its Marine Programme.

Activity areas for this position are primarily (but not exclusively) focused on the following thematic areas: deep ocean benthic environment and resource management, spatial planning within national maritime zones and the use, application and management of data necessary for sound decision making. An overall aim involves promoting to the general public and decision makers the value of the oceans and their ecosystems.

The Center for Dark Energy Biosphere Investigations (C-DEBI) is a National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded Science and Technology Center on the deep biosphere. Our mission is to explore life beneath the seafloor and make transformative discoveries that advance science, benefit society, and inspire people of all ages and origins.

Further details of research grants, postdoctoral and graduate student fellowships and an exchange support program at:

The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation's Marine Microbiology Initiative (MMI) has issued a Request for Ideas (RFI) for marine microbiology and marine microbial ecology research. It is looking to identify the most promising opportunities where a strategic, focused effort over the next five years will help to break open ‘black boxes’ in the field and take understanding of marine microbial communities to a new level.

This is the last call for material for the annual InterRidge Newsletter. This is your final opportunity to submit interesting articles for the 19th Volume of the InterRidge News, which will be published in November 2010. We are looking for articles on topics such as preliminary results of research related to ridges, back-arc basins, and ophiolites, shipboard or immediate post-cruise results, and new equipment, opinion articles, and workshop reports. The newsletter will also contain the world ridge cruise schedule, updates from the InterRidge Working Groups and from our National Correspondents, and a calendar of upcoming meetings of interest to the InterRidge community. InterRidge News is intended for the rapid publication of preliminary results and cruise reports that do not appear in other publications. All papers must be submitted by email to the InterRidge office (coordinator@interridge.org) by 13 September 2010.

Peking University has established a new programme in physical oceanography, with the aim to significantly enhance research and education in climate dynamics and ocean-atmosphere interaction. Successful candidates will have a unique opportunity to collaborate with an interdisciplinary group of scientists in atmospheric and oceanic sciences as well as in other fields.

The Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) is inviting you to submit comments on the draft of a new science plan that will guide scientific ocean drilling and related observatory science for a decade starting in late 2013. The input from you to this science plan is of utmost importance to ensure that this document has broad support of the wider scientific community. This public hearing period is running for four weeks from August 24 to September 21. We may not be able to consider comments received after the deadline.

Specifically, we solicit your comments on:

a) Identify critical topics or themes that are essential for securing broad support for the new program, but not sufficiently well covered in the existing draft. The goal here is to make the strongest possible

case to a wide audience. However, please, understand that the topics listed can not possibly be inclusive of all possible kinds of science, and that the writing committee, based on prior community input, has chosen a number exciting examples to guide the future science, rather than create an all inclusive, exhaustive list of topics. FYI, the new drilling program will be responsive to proposals developed and submitted by the scientific community. Proposals will be evaluated by a scientific advisory structure.

b) Scientific editorial comments on individual subsections by experts in those fields. Are there changes to the text and figures that wil help to make them more accurate and/or compelling?

c) Substantive comments on overall structure, overall message, and excitement of draft science plan. How does it present as a "whole"? The science plan needs to capture the imagination and excitement of ocean drilling science, and inspire readers to be supportive based on a big vision of innovation and discovery. Please point out where the current draft does this job well, and, most importantly, where it may need to be improved.

d) Suggest places where the draft can be made shorter without loosing essential information or impact. The goal is that the final science plan will be reduced rather than expanded in length. Please, bear in mind that a small team lead by a science writer eventually will reformat the science plan to provide a visually more attractive and navigable document with a single and, most likely, less specialized style of writing. Scientific edits and suggestions for shortening might therefore be more effective than complete rewrites.

The InterRidge Steering Committee meeting will be held on 6-7th September, at Winchester, UK. If you wish to raise any issues for discussion, please contact the office or your national correspondent.

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1.2 Call for articles for the InterRidge News 2010

Please consider submitting an article for the InterRidge Newsletter, the deadline is 13th September. We are requesting article submissions for the 19th Volume of the InterRidge News, which will be published in November 2010. All papers must be submitted by email to the InterRidge office. (coordinator@interridge.org).

Recent advances in sea-floor sampling and quantitative rock fabric analysis have enhanced our knowledge of the nature of deformation within the partially-molten lower oceanic crust and upper mantle. However, observations and models regarding the length-scales, rates, kinematics and magnitude of strain in partially molten systems are not well constrained. We solicit contributions from studies on both oceanic and ophiolitic environments that further constrain these and other parameters that govern the rheology of melt-present deformation within oceanic lithosphere. We also welcome integrated thermal, chemical, and geophysical studies that constrain and/or model melt-present deformation at both slow and fast spreading ridges.

The majority of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in the ocean has an average age of 4000 to 6000 years. These substances must be extremely resistant against biotic and abiotic degradation and/or almost unusable for microorganisms. DOM, produced via a number of food web processes, undergoes multiple transformations to semi-labile and finally to recalcitrant DOM. Bacterial/microbial processes govern some of those transformations. The specific mechanisms that generate recalcitrant DOM are largely unknown. Moreover, with limited ability to characterize the molecular structures of DOM it is difficult to discern why some is resistant to biotic and abiotic decomposition. The interaction between microbes and the production and removal of recalcitrant DOM requires further information of both microbial function and molecular level determination of DOM to assess the impact of DOM on global carbon cycles. This session seeks to develop a close co-operation between chemists and microbiologists that is indispensible to understand the cycling and storage of DOM.

In addition to the SS 55, SCOR WG134 on Microbial Carbon Pump in the Ocean (http://mme.xmu.edu.cn/mcp/eindex.asp ) is also planning an ASLO Emerging Seminar immediately after the ASLO meeting (on Feb.18-20, 2011); this is an open meeting and all are welcome to join us.Contact convenors above.

The Dark Energy Biosphere Institute (DEBI) Research Coordination Network (RCN) on the deep biosphere funds graduate student exchanges to facilitate collaborations among deep biosphere research groups, with the end goal of building and educating the community. Between 2-4 awards of $1-3K each will be granted annually for students to spend 1-6 months in a host lab to carry out research activities prohibitively difficult or impossible at their home institutions.

Its purpose is to provide a comprehensive list of active and inferred active (unconfirmed) submarine hydrothermal vent fields for use in academic research and education. Version 2.0 has 554 vent field listings (in the 5 March 2010 release). It is comprehensive for active and inferred active (unconfirmed) submarine hydrothermal vent fields discovered through to the end of 2009. The full database is uploaded into a Drupal 6 Content Management System. Taxonomy terms with controlled vocabulary were introduced for Activity, Tectonic Setting, Region, Ocean, National Jurisdiction, and Maximum Temperature Category. Each unique Vent Field Name ID is matched to a hierarchical vocabulary Feature ID for the same vent field in the Marine Geoscience Data System (MGDS). The full list of vent fields can be exported as a comma-separated-value (CSV) file.

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1.2 Call for papers for the InterRidge News 2010

We are requesting article submissions for the 19th Volume of the InterRidge News, which will be published in November 2010. All papers must be submitted by email to the InterRidge office (coordinator@interridge.org) by Monday, 13 September 2010 (one month from now).

Description: Spreading centers feature diverse interlinked systems that transfer mass and energy from the mantle to the crust, the ocean, and the biosphere. The Ridge 2000 program is building a holistic understanding of spreading centers through observation, modeling, and comparison of selected Integrated Study Sites and other oceanic spreading centers, and Time Critical Studies of magmatic and tectonic events. This session will provide a forum for field, laboratory, and theoretical studies of spreading center processes and to share insight on magmatism, tectonics, volcanism, fluid and rock geochemistry, hydrothermal circulation, vent systems, and micro- and macro-biological phenomena.

ED11: New Resources, Approaches and Technologies for Teaching about Plate Margins

Description: Students must understand the relationships among the tectonic, structural, petrologic and geochemical processes that occur at plate boundaries if they are to move from undergraduate geoscience courses into modern multidisciplinary geoscience research. This session seeks to highlight innovative resources and approaches to teaching plate boundary science, as have been produced in association with major research initiatives (MARGINS, Ridge2000, IODP, Earthscope), or as facilitated by new data and geospatial information resources (EarthChem, GeoMapApp/MGDS, Google Earth). Programs that move students from the classroom into plate margin research, at either the undergraduate or graduate level, are also of interest.

Description: With 95% of the ocean unknown or little known, ocean exploration is an emerging (or re-emerging) discipline in oceanography that is interdisciplinary and global in scope. Data and observations resulting from ocean exploration activities often result in new discoveries, new insight, new knowledge and new frontiers and can lead to the revision of existing paradigms or the formulation of new paradigms in the oceans poorly known and unknown regions. This session will highlight the technology, science and expeditions that explore ocean, coastal and Great Lakes environments. Results can be from any branch of marine science or technology and may include serendipitous observations from moorings, fixed platforms, research cruises, or designated exploration activities.

Conveners: Nicolas Alvarado (NOAA/OAR) & Reginald Beach (NOAA)

OS26: Deep-Sea Hydrothermal Systems: New Knowledge from New Discoveries and New Technology

Description: Recent discoveries of vent fields at ultraslow spreading ridges and arc environments provide new information on hydrothermal activity and vent ecosystems. The use of novel technology like AUVs has changed search strategies and enhanced imaging - providing detailed views of vent sites and their volcano-tectonic controls. New molecular techniques yield deeper insight into the biogeochemical processes, the biogeographic patterns and the biological evolution in the deep-sea. We invite reports on new discoveries, including using novel technology for vent exploration, as well as new analytical approaches and results that cast light on deep-sea hydrothermal activity and vent ecosystems at all tectonic settings.

Description: Recent advances in sea-floor sampling and quantitative rock fabric analysis have enhanced our knowledge of the nature of deformation within the partially-molten lower oceanic crust and upper mantle. However, observations and models regarding the length-scales, rates, kinematics and magnitude of strain in partially molten systems are not well constrained. We solicit contributions from studies on both oceanic and ophiolitic environments that further constrain these and other parameters that govern the rheology of melt-present deformation within oceanic lithosphere. We also welcome integrated thermal, chemical, and geophysical studies that constrain and/or model melt-present deformation at both slow and fast spreading ridges.

Description: Several regional-scale geologic events have occurred within the last year at the Lau back-arc basin, Tonga volcanic-arc and trench: the 18 March 2009 shallow-water eruption near Tonga, the 29 September 2009 Samoan earthquake (Mw 8.1), and the ongoing, deep-ocean eruption at West Mata volcano. Studies of such recent events provide important information on regional volcano-tectonic perturbations, responses, and timescales, and are foci of the NSF Ridge2000 and Margins programs. We solicit studies from marine geophysics, volcanology, petrology, marine chemistry, and physical oceanography to provide an integrated view of West Pacific upper mantle, ocean crust and water-column processes.

Description: One current focus of mid-ocean ridge research is the mechanisms and timescales of volcanic oceanic crust construction, with detailed studies at Lau Basin, EPR, Juan de Fuca, MAR, SWIR and elsewhere. Topics include the rate of melt delivery, its distribution in the crust, melt aggregation and interaction, relations between melt source, gabbroic crust and surface volcanism, episodicity and interplay of volcanism and faulting. Methodologies include high-resolution imaging and geophysics, detailed geochemistry, U-series and other dating methods. Cross-disciplinary and regional perspectives are important for attaining solutions. We solicit contributions on any aspect of these problems. Such diverse studies will provide an exciting and stimulating session.

3.1 Tender to host the ICSU World Data System International Programme Office

At the 29th ICSU General Assembly (Maputo, October 2008) it was agreed to establish the ICSU World Data System as an ICSU Interdisciplinary Body and at its last meeting the Executive Board of ICSU decided to create an International Programme Office (IPO) which will serve to manage and coordinate the establishment and operations of the ICSU World Data System, and take responsibility for outreach and promotional activities. The IPO will act under the guidance of the ICSU World Data System Scientific Committee (WDS-SC).

ICSU is now inviting tenders to host the ICSU World Data System International Programme Office (IPO).

Last month, the InterRidge Office coordinated a workshop on "Long Range Exploration of the Ridge Crest" for the IR Long Range Exploration Working Group. A total of 29 participants from 8 countries attended the workshop at NOC, Southampton, UK. The workshop began with a full day devoted to establishing the common scientific and technological "state of the art", with presentations from the full spectrum of disciplines, including geodynamics, geophysics, geology, petrology, hydrothermal sysytems, vent biology and biogeography, vehicles and sensors. The aim of the second day of the workshop was to converge on key future science drivers and set discipline-based geographical priorities for exploration. The workshop concluded with a plenary to identify which science missions could cover the most scientific ground in the most interesting regions (i.e. identify scientific and geographical synergies). A list of five highest-priority targets was produced, having a global distribution and attracting multi-disciplinary scientific interest.

It quickly became clear that the technology (especially AUV) is now available to consider conducting total coverage studies of the seafloor at the first-order segment scale (length n x 100km). The science drivers for this type of study are very strong across a range of disciplines but the resources it will require are significant, confirming that there is a need for InterRidge involvement, coordinating the resources of more than one nation to conduct the work and meaning that the area to be studied needs to be picked with care. Because this is beyond the scope of the current “Long Range Exploration“ working group we recommend to the InterRidge Office and Steering Committee that the possibility of establishing a new working group focussing on this problem and running a workshop specifically to address segment-scale studies (photographic mapping of axial valley and flanks) be investigated.

Global Exploration (GE): Main science drivers for global exploration are questions of vent biogeography, variations in fluid compositions in different or novel tectonic and geological situations and questions of tectonic evolution and functioning of the spreading axes. Our workshop identified 20 future targets for GE activities and prioritized the first 5 of these. These highest-priority targets have a global distribution and will attract multi-disciplinary scientific interest. It is clear that continuing international coordination will be required to bring the envisaged research to fruition.

Technological readiness: A range of autonomous underwater vehicles is now available at academic institutions around the world - these vehicles will play a key role in many LRE endeavours. Other key equipment is also required, however, including ship-based multibeam mapping, CTD, ROV & HOV capabilities. The most technologically challenging aspect of the work, multi-AUV deployments, is judged to be possible and vehicle reliability, although still an issue, is no longer seen as an insurmountable barrier. We recommend that this technological issue be considered further at a forthcoming international AUV conference in September 2010 “Mapping The World Ocean“.

Additionally it was noted that vast areas of the ridge remain unmapped even at ship-based multibeam resolution. InterRidge should therefore make every effort to utilize any opportunity to acquire additional data. One such opportunity is presented by the search for AF447 in the equatorial Atlantic - here side-scan data at <1m resolution and with 100% coverage is being acquired over a ridge-transform intersection at ca. 4°N. The IR Office should contact the authorities concerned to make this data available when possible for scientific research.

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1.2 Call for papers for the InterRidge News 2010

This is a second call for material for the annual InterRidge Newsletter. The InterRidge Office is requesting article submissions for the 19th Volume of the InterRidge News, which will be published in November 2010. InterRidge News is published annually by the InterRidge Office. We encourage you to submit articles on topics such as preliminary results of research related to ridges, back-arc basins, and ophiolites, shipboard or immediate post-cruise results, and new equipment, opinion articles, and workshop reports. The newsletter will also contain the world ridge cruise schedule, updates from the InterRidge Working Groups and from our National Correspondents, and a calendar of upcoming meetings of interest to the InterRidge community. InterRidge News is intended for the rapid publication of preliminary results and cruise reports that do not appear in other publications. All papers must be submitted by email to the InterRidge office (coordinator@interridge.org) by 13 September 2010.

Cruise JC050 (PI: Nicky White, University of Cambridge) is currently making a multi-channel seismic, gravity and magnetic survey across the north Atlantic V-shaped Ridges. These features are thought to relate to fluctuations in melt flux that propagate southwest along the Reykjanes Ridge, possibly in response to changes in plume flux beneath Iceland and its subsequent advective asthenospheric outflow. We are using a 2km-long digital streamer with twin GI guns to map the shape of the basement along two spreading flow lines: one at 60°N the other at 62°N. Wide angle data are being acquired using sonobuoys. We are also mapping the water column structure seismically and by deploying a dense set of XBTs and XCTDs. These 1000km-long lines will traverse from 42Ma crust in the east to the ridge crest and to 45Ma crust in the west, just off Greenland, and then back again. We are occupying cross-lines at intersections between the spreading-flow lines and V-shaped ridges and troughs to recover dip and strike sections. These are important as the study is funded by UK-IODP and forms part of a site survey in support of a proposal to drill a series of basement holes along a flow line to investigate the geochemistry of the basement and palaeo-oceanographic effects of the hypothesised plume pulses.

Currently we are over the Reykjanes Ridge, in a storm, with our gear recovered and stowed on deck. So far the data show the V-Shaped Ridges, which dominate the free-air gravity structure for the region, are composed of shallower basement indicative of thicker crust. The V-shaped troughs, in between the ridges, have thicker sediment cover and deeper basement, again consistent with an origin of changing melt flux at the ridge axis. The bathymetry above the V-shaped Ridges is considerably modified and complicated by ridge-parallel sediment drifts.

Co-investigators onboard the RRS James Cook include Tim Henstock and Bramley Murton (NOC) and Steve Jones (University of Birmingham). The cruise sailed from Reykjavik (Iceland) on Sunday 18th July and is due in to Birkenhead, UK on the 12th of August. You can follow the cruise progress on http://www.rrsjamescook.com/

The organisers of this meeting are pleased to announce a number of exciting new developments for its November meeting.

a) In order to allow the widest access to the meeting, we have decided to waive all registration fees, in favour of a nominal ‘refreshments only’ contribution of £25 per person. This will cover teas and coffees and buffet lunches.

b) We have rearranged the meeting programme to focus the presentation and discussion into two full days, to reduce the need for overnight accommodation. The new programme reflecting this is attached.

c) We have scheduled the early evening ice-breaker session on Wednesday 3rd November, to follow on directly from the afternoon session and to immediately precede the conference dinner. Our silver service dinner event will be conveniently relocated to the NOC Quayside Restaurant dining area, complete with an after dinner speaker/presentation. The cost of the dinner will be £40 and will include introductory wine and soft drinks.

The research field is directed towards describing the reaction of marine ecosystem to external perturbations, e.g. from climate change and fishery. The professorship focuses on the development of models describing the dynamics of marine ecosystems covering species interactions and evolutionary effects. The research is taking place on the interface between fisheries science, biological oceanography, and theoretical (evolutionary) ecology

The research field is physical oceanography with special focus on physical-biological interactions at small and intermediate scales. Relevant research topics range from studies of organism-fluid interactions at the level of the individual to the implementation of biological-physical interaction in regional-scale ecosystem and oceanographic models.

A New Ridge 2000 References Database has been launched on the Ridge 2000 Data Portal: http://www.marine-geo.org/portals/ridge2000/references.php

This database integrates references associated with Ridge 2000-funded or related projects and provides direct access to relevant data, cruises and compilations. We realize that in our initial search for references we are likely to have missed recently published papers on research conducted at the three R2K Integrated Study Sites, other oceanic spreading centers, and related theoretical or experimental studies. Please check the Ridge 2000 References Database ASAP and send any missing references by bibliographic listing and/or pdf, along with the NSF award numbers (if appropriate), to ridge2000@whoi.edu.

It is with sadness that the InterRidge Office has been informed of the death of Jean Francheteau, who died on 21st July 2010, in St Renan, near Brest, at the age of 67. Jean was one of the famous and very active pioneers in mid-ocean ridge exploration. With his ability to collaborate and his willingness to share his data with colleagues around the world and with his scientific stature, Jean Francheteau undoubtedly contributed to the promotion of the French research in oceanography and to its international influence. The Geosciences community has not only lost one of its great scientists, but also a highly regarded colleague and friend. For a full appreciation of Jean Francheteau's career, please visit: http://www-sdt.univ-brest.fr/news/in-memoriam-jean-francheteau-1?

The InterRidge Office is requesting article submissions for the 19th Volume of the InterRidge News, which will be published in November 2010. InterRidge News is published annually by the InterRidge Office. We encourage you to submit articles on topics such as preliminary results of research related to ridges, back-arc basins, and ophiolites, shipboard or immediate post-cruise results, and new equipment, opinion articles, and workshop reports. The newsletter will also contain the world ridge cruise schedule, updates from the InterRidge Working Groups and from our National Correspondents, and a calendar of upcoming meetings of interest to the InterRidge community. InterRidge News is intended for the rapid publication of preliminary results and cruise reports that do not appear in other publications. All papers must be submitted by email to the InterRidge office (coordinator@interridge.org) by 13 September 2010.

The main goals of this experiment are to evaluate hydrogeologic properties within the ocean crust; determine how fluids move within an active hydrothermal system; establish links between fluid circulation, alteration, and geomicrobial processes; and determine relations between seismic and hydrologic properties. Expedition 327 will install several sub-seafloor observatories to monitor fluid circulation and microbial activity in the ocean's crust.

The Dark Energy Biosphere Institute (DEBI) Research Coordination Network (RCN) on the deep biosphere funds graduate student exchanges to facilitate collaborations among deep biosphere research groups, with the end goal of building and educating the community. Between 2-4 awards of $1-3K each will be granted annually for students to spend 1-6 months in a host lab to carry out research activities prohibitively difficult or impossible at their home institutions.

UNEP- WCMC wishes to appoint a suitably qualified person to the new position of Lecturer in Conservation Leadership. Based equally at the offices of UNEP-WCMC and the Department of Geography, the Lecturer will help build and deliver a new MPhil in Conservation Leadership, and play a key role in developing the activities of the CCI, with a focus on leadership talent for the future in biodiversity conservation.

The conference objectives are to provide the international ocean community with a forum for technical information exchange and to promote coordination among those concerned with developing and using autonomous underwater vehicles. The 2010 Workshop focuses on the latest in AUV technologies for accurately obtaining ocean data, imagery, bathymetry and how best to present the various data sets in an integrated fashion.

This is a multi-disciplinary workshop exploring the challenges of visualising increasingly complex and large-scale biological datasets. BBSRC recognises this as an area where some facilitated networking between disciplines would be beneficial, and is holding a workshop to bring experts together to explore some of the challenges and possible solutions to the visualisation of biological data.

Aims

To showcase current activities, tools and technologies relevant to the visualisation of biological datasets

To encourage cross-disciplinary collaborations aimed at encouraging the development of creative visualisation tools for the biosciences

To explore the opportunities and bottlenecks associated with visualising biological datasets

To provide an opportunity for researchers across the biological, computational and creative disciplines to explore novel ways of obtaining maximum benefit from their research, whether this is by exploiting their biological data or by providing new avenues for the use of IT and creative tools

The Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Houston invites applicants for four sub-disciplines of geology and geophysics to fill two tenure line positions at the Associate Professor or Professor levels:

The next issue of Scientific Drilling journal No.10 will be published at the end of September. Please submit articles by July 28th 2010 to Mika Saido at: msaido@iodp-mi-sapporo.org

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3.2 Marine scientists call for a worldwide system of very large highly protected marine reserves

More than 245 marine scientists from 35 countries are calling for the establishment of a worldwide system of very large, highly protected marine reserves as an essential and long overdue contribution to improving stewardship of the global oceanic environment.

The InterRidge Steering Committee is very pleased to announce the recipients of the 2010 InterRidge Student and Postdoctoral Fellowship programme - Shinsuke Kawagucci, Baby Divya and Akumbom Vishiti. Three awards were made this year, one from InterRidge and two which were provided from the International Seabed Authority Endowment Fund, which aims to support the participation of qualified scientists and technical personnel from developing countries.

Kawagucci is a postdoctoral researcher at JAMSTEC, Japan, advised by Dr. Ken Takai. His proposal title is “An experimental study for characterizing thermogenic methane at sediment-covered hydrothermal systems.” He will be working with Dr. Jeff Seewald at WHOI, USA, where he will conduct an experiment handling thermal decomposition of sedimentary organic matter under hydrothermal conditions (pressure, temperature, and natural water-sediment ratio). The results obtained from the experiments will provide detailed information about “thermogenic methane” characteristics, which will clearly differentiate between thermogenic and biogenic “sediment-derived” characteristics.

Divya is currently studying for her Ph.D. at the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), Goa, India, under the supervision of Dr. Shanta Achuthankutty, NIO. As she has always been fascinated by microbial life of extreme environments, Divya has been working on the bacterial diversity of the Oxygen Minimum Zone (OMZ) in the Arabian Sea. The title of her proposal is: “Chemosynthetic microbial communities drive specificity of the hydrothermal vents' fauna: analysis using combined genomics and proteomic approaches,” and she will be working with Dr. Robert Morris at the University of Washington.

Akumbom Vishiti of the University of Buea, Cameroon, is a graduate student who will use the ISA Endowment Fund award to support a collaboration with IFM-GEOMAR and its international deep ocean systems programme. The title of Vishiti’s project is “Melt inclusions, fluid composition and sulphide microchemistry at the Red Sea ridge.” She will participate on a cruise to the Atlantis II Deep in January 2011 focusing on sampling the crustal rocks both in and around the brine pool, looking at fluid sources. Vishiti is advised by Prof. Cheo Emmanuel Suh at the University of Buea and the fellowship will be conducted with Prof. Colin Devey of IFM-GEOMAR.

Our excellent keynote and invited speaker programme remains unchanged from that announced earlier in the year, and this reflects the focus of this year’s event: “Taking Stock – The State of the Oceans”. Twelve core presentations will be integrated with targeted working focus groups and panel-led discussion sessions to assess the new global entitlements to maritime territory and their implications for resource development and ocean governance, and evaluate the challenges facing our understanding of Biodiversity and the Marine Environment. We are also about to confirm some additional new and exciting contributors to our original speakers list.

Candidates should have a good background in geosciences/geophysics/geology. Candidates from other disciplines like Physics or Electrical Engineering may also apply. The position will be hosted by the University of Bremen, MARUM (http://www.marum.de)

Candidate with research experience in computational seismic imaging is wanted for a multidisciplinary project aimed at elucidating the nature and mechanism of seismic anisotropy at the base of the Earth's mantle. This project connects global seismic tomography with regional seismological studies and with thermo-chemical mantle convection simulations, involving collaboration between UEA and other universities in Europe and USA.

Participants are encouraged to initiate their entry visa applications to Russia as soon as possible. In addition, all participants must send their firm travel itineraries to the Conference Coordinator to ensure that shuttle services between Krasnodar or Anapa to Gelendzhik can be arranged well in advance.

The Long-Range Exploration Working Group will be holding an open international workshop at Southampton, UK on 28-30th June 2010. Registration is expected to open during the week beginning 10th May and an email will be sent via the IR mailing list to announce this. There is a limit of 100 spaces due to the rooming arrangements so you will need to apply promptly when you receive the follow-on email. Information is available on the website at:

http://www.interridge.org/en/WG/Exploration/workshop2010

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2. News from the Ridge Crest

2.1 Research Cruise 44, Mid-Cayman Spreading Centre

Cruise JC044 of the RRS James Cook, to the Mid-Cayman Spreading Centre (MCSC), ended in Montego Bay, Jamaica, on April 21st. During the 31 days at sea, the cruise surveyed more than 2000 square kilometres of seafloor with the ship's multibeam swath bathymetry and TOBI sidescan sonar systems, and completed 750 km of magnetometer and gravity survey lines. The Autosub6000 AUV undertook nine missions, spending 199 hours underwater, diving to over 5000m and covering 690 km, while the HyBIS ROTV (remotely-operated tethered vehicle) made ten dives, spending a total of 94 hours underwater and reaching 5162m.

The cruise, headed by Doug Connelly with co-investigators Jon Copley, Bramley Murton, Paul Tyler and Kate Stansfield (all from the NOC in Southampton), found two vent sites on the MCSC: the deepest yet known, at 4960 m, and a shallower site at 2300 m on the off-axis Mount Dent feature. HyBIS collected geological, biological and fluid samples that are now being analysed. The cruise also deployed two deep-water moorings to determine longer-term physical variability in the lower 1000m of the water column above the vents sites. These will be recovered using the ROV Isis in 2012 during a second scheduled cruise to the MCSC.

The cruise built on earlier collaborative work with Chris German, Cindy Van Dover and colleagues in the US, whose NASA-funded cruise last year identified potential hydrothermal plumes. In addition to participants from Southampton, the team aboard the RRS James Cook included researchers from the Universities of Durham UK, North Carolina Center for Marine Science, Austin Texas, and Bergen Norway. The outreach programme from the ship used media coverage to attract visitors to the "live" cruise website, which received more than 50,000 visitors from at least 89 countries. A video clip posted from the ship showing the first glimpse from HyBIS's HD camera of the world's deepest known black smokers received more than 100,000 views and was the 38th most viewed channel on YouTube during the week of April 12th.

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3. Upcoming Events

3.1 14th Biennial Challenger Society Conference on Marine Science

Major theme "Ocean Challenges in the 21st Century"

Accommodation can now be booked at:http://www.challenger2010.org.uk/registration-a-submission

Abstract deadline: 21st May 2010.

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3.2 Goldschmidt Conference, Knoxville, Tennessee, 13-18 June 2010

Online registration ends 28th May, 2010

The following themes are of particular interest to the InterRidge community:

The Chair in Modelling and Prediction of Marine Environmental Extremes will be invited to lead a new international network on marine extremes involving ocean and atmospheric researchers from Australia, Brazil, Canada and the UK.

Details at: http:www.science.dal.ca

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4.2 Research positions, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

The Red Sea Research Centre at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) invites applications from scientists and engineers interested in joining in developing an integrated understanding of the Red Sea marine ecosystem, from the molecular/-omic level to the physical and chemical environment in which the whole ecosystem exists. We are seeking creative and independent individuals with specific interests in Physical, Chemical and Biological Oceanography, Marine Biology/Marine Ecology, Genomics, and Ecosystem Modeling

The University of Washington's Seaglider 144 set a new endurance record for autonomous underwater vehicles of 9.6 months of continuous operation data collection and covering 5,528 km (3,435 miles). Operating independently, Seaglider 144 averaged just over .75 km per hour (0.5 mph), stopping for only a few minutes every 9 hours to send back its data via satellite.

For more information, email seaglider1KA@irobot.com <seaglider1KA@irobot.com>

The Long-Range Exploration Working Group will be holding an open international workshop at Southampton, UK on 28-30th June 2010. Registration is expected to open on 4th May 2010 and an email will be sent via the IR mailing list to announce this. There is a limit of 100 spaces due to the rooming arrangements so you will need to apply promptly when you receive the follow-on email. However, as much information as possible is available on the website at: http://www.interridge.org/en/WG/Exploration/workshop2010

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1.2 New National Correspondent for New Zealand

We would like to welcome Richard Wysoczanski as the new National Correspondent for New Zealand. Richard is based at the National Institute for Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), Auckland, NZ. The science community of New Zealand has made major contributions to international studies of deep-sea processes at mid-ocean ridges and we envision that such progress will continue to be made in the future.

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2. News from the Ridge Crest

2.1 Cayman Trough

Scientists on the RRS James Cook have found the deepest hydrothermal vent known so far, at 4960 metres in the Cayman Trough, following previous work in 2009 by a joint USA-UK-Japan cruise. InterRidge Chair, Bram Murton, and Jon Copley, InterRidge Co-Chair, are aboard.

1.1 Long Range Exploration working group international workshop 28-30 June 2010

1.2 InterRidge/ISA Student Fellowships now closed

2. News from the Ridge Crest

2.1 21st March - 21st April 2010: Cayman Trough

3.Jobs and Fellowships

3.1 Deep Sea Ecologist, NOC Southampton, UK

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1. InterRidge Info

1.1 Long Range Exploration working group international workshop 28-30 June 2010

The IR Long-Range Exploration Working Group (http://www.interridge.org/WG/Exploration) will hold an international workshop on long-range exploration of oceanic spreading centres, including mid-ocean ridges and back-arc basin systems. The purpose of this workshop will be to bring together scientists and technologists to plan international programmes for hypothesis-driven exploration of large regions of the ocean ridge crests and flanks.

The successful candidate will work in the SERPENT team http://www.serpentproject.com collaborating with marine scientists in the Ocean Biogeochemistry and Ecosystems Group at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton and working closely with the oil and gas industry.

4.1 Research Associate in Marine Geology & Geophysics, University of Manchester, UK

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1. InterRidge Info

1.1 InterRidge Student and Postdoc Fellowships, $5000 each

Much interest has been shown on the website for these awards. We expect to award four Fellowships this year, each worth $5000. These Fellowships are designed to encourage international collaboration on any aspect of ridge-crest science by graduate students or postdoctoral researchers. Three of them are designated for researchers from developing countries or people delivering training here.

The conference will provide the premier platform for discussion, dissemination, policy analysis and development of the key issues surrounding marine biodiversity, as well as providing an opportunity for the marine community to further influence the key thinkers and policy makers worldwide.

Much interest has been shown on the website for these awards. We expect to award four Fellowships this year, each worth $5000. These Fellowships are designed to encourage international collaboration on any aspect of ridge-crest science by graduate students or postdoctoral researchers. Three of them are designated for researchers from developing countries or people delivering training here.

InterRidge will be working with the ChEss Office to host a live broadcast with Chris German, one in English and one in Spanish. The English-language version will be hosted at the Inner Space Center, Univ. Rhode Island with hook-ups at, among other institutions: Scripps, WHOI, NOCS and IFREMER Centre de Brest.

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1.3 Final reminder: Code of Conduct survey

There has been an excellent response to the Code of Conduct survey on Responsible Research at Hydrothermal Vents. The survey closes on 15th March, so if you would still like to take part, please go to: http://www.interridge.org/en/statement/survey

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2. News from the Ridge Crest

2.1 INSPIRE update from Chris German

The Mid-Ocean Ridge component of our cruise ended on Friday March 5th with the completion of systematic tow-yos along the first two segments of the East Chile Rise away from the Triple Junction. These surveys, using a combination of in situ sensors and water column sampling for shipboard and shorebased analyses, have revealed some promising signals that we'll be following up on back ashore. Perhaps the most dramatic news of the last week, however, was the sudden loss of the ABE autonomous underwater vehicle while it was actively searching for new vent-sites at 3000m close to the Triple Junction itself. You can read more on this and other aspects of the cruise at: http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/10chile/logs/mar7a/mar7a.html

With the exploration of the Triple Junction complete the team have now relocated north to investigate cold seep sites off Concepcion (close to the epicenter of the recent 8.8 Magnitude Earthquake) and Valparaiso where the INSPIRE team plan to depart the ship on March 11th. A team of UC PhD students will be continuing their explorations of the northern Chile margin and trench until March 17th.

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2.1 First Chinese OBS experiment at Southwest Indian Ridge

Jiabiao Li1 and Y. John Chen2

1Second Institute of Oceanography, SOA, Hangzhou, China

2ITAG/SESS, Peking University, Beijing, China

An active source, 3-D seismic (refraction/wide angle reflection) experiment was completed at the ultra-slow spreading Southwest Indian Ridge during the 6th leg of the CHINA RIDGE cruise (DY115-21) on board R/V Dayang Yihao from January 31, 2010 to March 7, 2010, led by Dr. Jiabiao Li as the Chief Scientist and Dr. Y. John Chen and Dr. Jianyu Ni as the Co-PIs. We had deployed 40 Ocean Bottom Seismographs (OBS) within two 50-km by 50-km areas during this 36-days OBS cruise (Fig. 1). One study area is at the western end of the ridge segment at 50E, where an active hydrothermal vent field was discovered by Chinese scientists on R/V Dayang Yihao from various observations including the observations by the WHOI’s ABE vehicle in March 2007. The other study area is located at the center of this segment where the axial rift valley was replaced by an axial high (as shallow as 1700-m water depth), which is similar to the Lucky Strike segment at the North Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Among the 40 OBSs seventeen were provided by Institute de Physique du Globe de Paris (IPGP) as the first Sino-French collaboration on mid-ocean ridge studies, and also as a consequence of a MOU signed by InterRidge China and IPGP at Hangzhou China in October 2009. Three French OBS engineers Romuald Daniel, Alexander Blin, and Christopher Courrier from IPGP also were on board along with 32 scientists from 12 institutions of China.

An array of four air guns (1500 cubic inch each) was shot along total of 40 near east-west and north-south lines at an interval of 100-120 seconds with a ship speed of 4.5-4.9 knots. The total of 10,832 shots within the 13 days of air gun shooting should provide enough seismic source and path coverage for a 3-D tomographic inversion of these two study areas to a depth of 20 km.

We had successfully recovered 38 OBSs out of the 40 deployed. The weather has been very cooperative during the 20 days of the seismic experiment with a calm sea condition that is quite unusual at this latitude of the Indian Ocean. The most important scientific questions this 3-D active source seismic experiment will address are the crustal structure at this ridge segment with a strong focus on imaging a potential magma chamber in the crust, and looking for any slow velocity anomalies beneath the Moho, an indication of melt body in the uppermost mantle. Preliminary results are expected to be presented at the 2010 Fall AGU Meeting in San Francisco in December 2010.

This is the first Chinese OBS experiment at mid-ocean ridges and as matter fact, the large number of the OBS used makes it a large OBS experiment conducted at global mid-ocean ridges. This is also the first seismic experiment at the ultra-slow spreading Southwest Indian Ridge and therefore, the three-dimensional seismic structure of the ridge imaged by this experiment will add important information at the ultra-slow spreading end of the global mid-ocean ridges. Finally, this OBS cruise was organized by the Second Institute of Oceanography, SOA and funded by the China Ocean Mineral Resources R & D Association (COMRA), which is the organization responsible for organizing and conducting deep-sea resources research and development for China.

The second Institute of Oceanography (SIO), State Oceanic Administration of China (SOA), is a key institute of China deep ocean scientific expedition and research, which mainly engaged in the multi-discipline investigation and research of marine environment and resources on China marginal seas, oceans, and polar region. Peking University is one of the top universities in China, which leads the national research in many areas including the marine geophysics. The Institute de Physique du Globe de Paris (IPGP) is the largest institute of Earth Sciences in France and also one of the largest in Europe. The Institute conducts research and education in geology, geophysics, geochemistry and the environmental sciences.

As you are aware, an 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck just off the coast of Chile on Saturday, February 27 and caused catastrophic damage to the country. The University of Concepcion, currently Chile’s leading institution in oceanography, was hit extremely hard by the earthquake and is trying to re-build their oceanographic research and academic operations affected by this event.

The School of Natural Sciences and Oceanography facilities on the main campus will need significant help. The field station in Dichato was destroyed with the Kai-Kai, the school’s coastal vessel, stranded on land. Laboratory and field equipment and instruments are lost or have been destroyed both at the Marine Station at Dichato and the main campus in Concepcion. The pictures of Dichato are heart wrenching. The University of Concepcion is still trying to take a detailed inventory of their equipment, but needless to say, a lot of work and money is needed to recover from this disaster.

We expect to award four Fellowships this year, each worth $5000. These Fellowships are designed to encourage international collaboration on any aspect of ridge-crest science by graduate students or postdoctoral researchers. Three of them are designated for researchers from developing countries or people delivering training here.

InterRidge will be working with the ChEss Office to host a live broadcast with Chris German. Further details when available will be put on the home page http://www.interridge.org

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2. News from the Ridge Crest

2.1 East Chile Rise

24th February 2010 - 13th March: INSPIRE. Chris German (WHOI) will join co-PI Andrew Thurber (Scripps) taking the autonomous underwater vehicle ABE aboard the RV Melville to search for sites of hydrothermal activity along the East Chile Rise close to the Chile Triple Junction. There will be a NOAA-OE Signature website devoted to the cruise at: http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov which goes live on Feb 24th.

On 11th March, there will be live broadcasts from the ship, one in English and one in Spanish. The English-language version will be hosted at the Inner Space Center, Univ. Rhode Island with hook-ups at, among other institutions: Scripps, WHOI, NOCS and IFREMER Centre de Brest.

Aims and Objectives of INSPIRE:

During this 24-day cruise a team of 35 scientists will visit four sites along the Chile Margin:

1. Chile Triple Junction

"Exploration is our initial goal on this cruise, tackling a diverse suite of questions about this habitat.

Is there a hybrid habitat which connects the hot vent and cold seep fauna at the Chilean Triple Junction?

What chemicals are being released from these vents and seeps?

How are the chemicals transformed by microbes (Bacteria and Archaea) in these two habitats?

What animals and protists (single celled animals) are present in these reducing ecosystems? How are they related genetically/ evolutionarily to other samples from around the globe? Do the deep-sea clam larvae disperse by swimming into the shallows or do they stay at depth their entire life?

What symbiotic microbes are present within these animals? How are the symbionts related to symbionts in other regions? What are the sources of energy that fuel these symbionts?

What are the non- symbiont bearing animals and protists eating? Are they impacting the chemical processing due to their consumption of Bacteria and Archaea which would otherwise consume methane?

How similar are the seeps faunas at different locations along the Chile margin and how similar are they to seep faunas in other parts of the Pacific Ocean?

2. Concepcion Methane Seep Area (CMSA)

By having a live-video system to guide placement of our multicorer, we will fill in some knowledge gaps about this seep site and examine similarity of the fauna between the Chile Triple Junction region and the CMSA.

3. El Quisco methane seep

Due to the shallow depth and the low oxygen present the two short days we will spend at El Quisco hold a very high potential for novel discoveries.

4. Peru-Chile Trench, southern end

We will be using our time there to study both the sediment and water column microbial fauna. At these depths we are still very much asking basic questions about what is there and how they deal with such high pressure (over 600 atmospheres)."

In 2006 InterRidge developed a “Statement of commitment to responsible research practices at deep-sea hydrothermal vents”. Four years on, InterRidge is pleased to support the work of Cindy van Dover, Kevin Zelnio and Laurent Godet who are conducting a survey to evaluate the potential awareness, relevance and efficiency of this code of conduct.

After completing the Code of Conduct survey, if you would like to sign it and have not already done so, please go to:

http://www.interridge.org/irstatement

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1.2 Reminder of InterRidge Student and Postdoc Fellowships

InterRidge invites proposals for InterRidge Student and Postdoctoral Fellowships of up to $5000 US each. These Fellowships are designed to encourage international collaboration on any aspect of ridge-crest science by graduate students or postdoctoral researchers. They can be used for any field of ridge-crest science. In particular these awards are encouraged to be used for international cruise participation, international laboratory use, and adding an international dimension to the Fellow’s research.

Oral presentations and posters in any field of deep-sea biology. Sessions will be organised on a variety of interesting themes, such as diversity, reproduction, human impact in the deep-sea and sessions dealing with the recent outcome of the large Census projects.

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3. Jobs and Fellowships

IODP Assistant Research Scientist / Staff scientist

Deadline: 31st March 2010

http://www.earthworks-jobs.com/geoscience/iodp10011.html

Applicants with expertise in inorganic/organic geochemistry and geomicrobiology are encouraged to apply, but all fields of geosciences will be considered. An experienced seagoing scientist, especially in scientific ocean drilling, is preferred.

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4. Other

Contributions to Ocean Drilling have been requested - upcoming workshops, short news items or general information you would like to advertise to the scientific community. For details, please go to: http://www.interridge.org/en/node/5977

InterRidge is pleased to announce 2010’s Student and Postdoctoral Fellowships, in partnership with the International Seabed Authority.

As part of InterRidge’s mission to promote international, collaborative, and interdisciplinary studies of oceanic spreading centers, we invite proposals for InterRidge Student and Postdoctoral Fellowships of up to $5000 US each. These Fellowships are designed to encourage international collaboration on any aspect of ridge-crest science by graduate students or postdoctoral researchers, fostering long-standing partnerships for their future careers. The Fellowships can be used for any field of ridge-crest science. In particular these awards are encouraged to be used for international cruise participation, international laboratory use, and adding an international dimension to the Fellow’s research.

We expect to offer a total of four Fellowships in 2010. One of the Fellowships, funded by InterRidge, is open to a graduate student or postdoc from any nation. The remaining three Fellowships are funded by the International Seabed Authority (ISA) Endowment Fund, with the requirement that the graduate student or postdoc is either from a developing country or will assist in training those of a developing country. The ISA Endowment Fund is a new program for collaborative marine scientific research, with details and brochure available at: http://www.isa.org.jm/en/efund/. The mission of the ISA Endowment Fund is to support the participation of qualified scientists and technical personnel from developing countries in marine research activities and to provide opportunities for collaboration by these persons. For more information on the partnership with the ISA for the InterRidge Student and Postdoctoral Fellowship Program, please see: http://www.interridge.org/isapartnership

The goal of this session is to bring together microbiologists and geochemists having expertise in mid-ocean ridge systems to discuss connectivity of subseafloor, active vents, hydrothermal plumes, and low-temperature alteration environments from the perspective of geomicrobiology and biogeography.

Due to the strong increase in demand for metallic raw materials the marine ocean floor deposits and their mineability are again in the centre of interest of many international marine geology, technology and raw materials experts as well as state agencies and mining companies.

You will study deep-sea benthic biodiversity and its dynamics (population succession, larval dispersal, recruitment, inter-specific competition, etc.) and participate in European and international research projects.

Start date: as soon as possible

More details at:http://wwz.ifremer.fr/institut_en/actualites/postes_ouverts/chercheur_en_biodiversite_fonctionnelle_h_f

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Research Fellow (2 posts) Liverpool, UK

Deadline: 19 March 2010

We are seeking scientists from any area of Earth and Ocean sciences who have demonstrated research excellence through publications in international, peer-reviewed journals.

Further details at: http://www.liv.ac.uk/earth

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5. Other

An Australian TV company is interested in opportunities to participate in ridge-crest cruises. Angus Llewellyn is Associate Producer of Sunday Night,

Seven Network (Operations) Limited and is looking to:

“latch on to the most exciting research we can find somewhere deep below the water surface. Our crew would consist of four people - cameraman, sound operator, reporter and producer (me). What I'd really like to do is have the opportunity for our reporter to see things first hand in an Alvin or Alvin-like vehicle. That of course may limit the number of opportunities so we're open to looking at everything.”

I imagine we'd want to spend a couple of days aboard. That of course all depends on where these ships are and how long they're there for etc. We'd also want to do some interviews back on land before and/or after the trip which could take another day or so. We would work around whatever the crew and research teams need to do.“

Any PIs who may be interested in this opportunity are invited to get in touch with Angus Llewellyn via the InterRidge office. Please contact Debbie Milton coordinator at interridge.org

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InterRidge E-newsletter #1/2010 (14th January, 2010)

1. InterRidge Info

1.1. Welcome from the InterRidge Office at NOCS

2. News from the Ridge Crest

2.1. News from aboard the RRS James Cook, currently heading for South Georgia

First, we would like to congratulate and thank Jian Lin, Chris German and Stace Beaulieu for running the InterRidge Office at WHOI these past 3 years. Their enthusiasm and leadership has ensured InterRidge has continued to be the most effective medium for international collaboration in mid-ocean ridge studies. So, here is a big THANK YOU from all of us in the InterRidge family. We would also like to welcome you to the InterRidge Office at the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton, UK. Our new InterRidge coordinator is Dr Debbie Milton. Debbie has been shadowing Stace over the last month and learnt some invaluable tips for running the office. In fact, Debbie’s first week as coordinator was spent at WHOI, to ensure we get off to a flying start. The InterRidge web site is now hosted at NOCS, and for that we would like to thank Dan Perry (NOCS) and Andy Maffei (WHOI) for a seamless transition. But please send Debbie any items you want her to post on the InterRidge website, e-Newsletter and Jobs. We are here to serve you, so make the most of us!

Plans for InterRIdge over the next 3 years: We are at the forefront of an exciting time in ridge studies. The Neptune cabled observatories are now coming on line, with Neptune Canada currently live. The nodes on the Endeavour Ridge and Middle Valley, Juan de Fuca Ridge, provide real time data, images and even video of active ridge processes. Other observatory experiments are in the pipeline, including the Lucky Strike vent site, Mid-Atlantic Ridge. These new observatories will provide unique insights into active ridge processes. There are also some 32 ridge crest cruises scheduled for 2010 alone, including vent research off Antarctica and in the Cayman Trough, Caribbean. In addition, a number of workshops and meetings are planned that will bring new activities and areas of study into focus. For example, one of InterRidge’s long-term aims is to provide informed advice to policy makers about how Mankind interacts with the deep-ocean environment. Towards that aim, InterRidge has signed a Letter of Agreement with UNEP/ GRID-Arendal and is sponsoring a workshop on the Design of Marine Protected Areas for Chemosynthetic Ecosystems (June 2010, Dinard, France).

In terms of new initiatives, InterRidge intends to nurture new collaborations and research ideas by establishing a series of travel grants to enable early career scientists to join research cruises. We firmly believe that these cruises provide a ‘hot-house’ in which creative new ideas and collaborative partnerships emerge and thrive. It is these new collaborations and ideas that are the key to future growth of InterRidge and its science. But remember, InterRidge belongs to you! To make it as effective as possible, we will be introducing new tools for online networking and discussion to push back the frontiers of ridge crest science and technology by sharing your imagination and creativity. Together, we can make a difference.

2.1. News from aboard the RRS James Cook, currently heading for South Georgia

Right now we're aboard the RRS James Cook, heading for South Georgia from Punta Arenas in southern Chile. This cruise, led Alex Rogers of the Institute of Zoology in London, is part of a programme headed by Paul Tyler of NOCS to investigate chemosynthetic ecosystems in the Southern Ocean. The programme also involves researchers from the British Antarctic Survey and the Universities of Bristol and Newcastle in the UK.

Our cruise is the second in a series of three. The first cruise one year ago, led by Rob Larter of the British Antarctic Survey, undertook geophysical mapping, water column plume surveying and video sled surveys of the East Scotia Ridge (ESR). That cruise obtained the first seafloor observations of vent fields on the ESR; indeed the furthest south black smokers have been seen so far by ~20 degrees of latitude.

This year we are returning to those ESR vent sites with the Isis ROV to investigate their chemistry, microbiology, ecology and biogeography. By comparing the fauna of ESR vents with that found at vents elsewhere, we hope to gain a fuller picture and understanding of the global patterns of life at vents. Next year, the final cruise in the programme will investigate other chemosynthetic environments near the Antarctic Peninsula with the ROV.

Overall, our programme is one of several around the world now pushing the exploration of hydrothermal vents into challenging polar regions. We have a strong InterRidge presence on board: Alex is an IR Steering Committee member, and former Co-Chair Chris German is also with us as part of a collaboration with NSF’s Office of Polar Programmes, also involving Tim Shank at WHOI. So far the weather has been much more clement compared with conditions back in the UK, but it is early days for us yet: we will not arrive on the ESR until the end of this week. Once we settle into a routine, we hope to post a daily blog from the ship (details to follow on the IR website). The cruise is scheduled to end in Montevideo, Uruguay on February 21st.

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3. Upcoming Events

3.1. Japanese-French Frontier of Science Symposium

Benoit Ildefonse will be chairing the Earth/Environment session at the next Japanese-French Frontier of Science Symposium in January 2010. These meetings are multidisciplinary (physics, biology, mathematics, social sciences, etc.), and all participants attend all sessions. The theme of the Earth/Environment session this year will be deep-sea resources.

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4. Jobs and Fellowships

4.1 Two Postdoctoral positions

a) Marine glacial morphology, Stockholm University, Sweden

b) Postdoctoral position at Brest, France

Topic: "Elaboration of a video processing platform to analyze the temporal dynamics of hydrothermal ecosystems"

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5. Other

5.1. Call for papers on the East Pacific Rise

We are currently compiling a group of papers on the Ridge 2000 integrated study site at the East Pacific Rise for a special volume in Geobiology (citation index 3.8). The contents of the papers currently proposed range from geochemistry to microbiology to time-series plume fluxes at the 9°50’ EPR vent sites, but could broaden out disciplinarily and locality to include 8 - 11°N EPR. We would therefore like to hear from those of you in the Ridge community who would be interested in submitting their research to such a journal.

If you have upcoming workshops, short news items or general information you would like to advertise to the scientific community, either write a short paragraph (less than 200 words plus 1 small optional figure if necessary), or simply let us know where we can find the relevant information.